Sheraton Imperial KL Christmas Buffet – A Journey of Colours

It’s that time of the year again! Christmas is just around the corner and many hotels in KL will be offering sumptuous buffets featuring new, fusion and traditional Christmas goodies. 🙂 The team and I were invited to sample Sheraton Imperial KL‘s Christmas and New Year’s Buffet, ‘A Journey of Colours’ at their Essence Cafe. True to the theme, the beautiful spread has a bit of everything – Asian, Western, Italian – all nicely done and plated to be colourful and visually appealing.

The cold cuts/salad section had smoked mackerel and tuna, topped with freshly chopped tomatoes and cucumber. The mackerel had just the right amount of saltiness and a peppery crust, while the tuna was soft on the inside and seared around the edges.

Salad lovers will enjoy chicken tropical salad with horseradish dressing (for that spicy kick!), or shredded quail comfit nut salad using organic ingredients. All the dishes had at least three or more colours in them, so it was both pleasing to the eye and tummy.

Fresh salmon sashimi with beetroot slices and asparagus.

Moving on to the mains, we were spoilt for choice. There were different ‘stations’, with cuisine ranging from Mediterranean to Chinese, Italian to English, a seafood grill counter, a self-service noodle counter, and many more.

Local favourites were a mix of Malay, Indian and Chinese food, such as chicken satay, stir-fried vegetables, mutton curry and rendang.

I liked their squid ink tortellini pasta, which was cooked in a creamy sauce with salmon and seafood. The tortellini’s cup-like shape made for easy scooping of the smooth, cheesy sauce. 🙂

For our testing session, they replaced the customary turkey with a large chicken instead. The chef assured us that turkey would be available for the actual Christmas buffet. A mountain of roast vegetables – roasted potatoes with the peels left on, carrots and juicy tomatoes were piled all around the golden brown bird. The meat was done to tender perfection and was juicy when paired with gravy.

Roast beef, which was succulent and pink on the inside. 🙂

I used to be able to eat a lot at buffets. Age has caught up to me these days, so I tend to sample just a bit of everything. 😛

The dessert corner deserved a write up of its own – the section was transformed into a wintry wonderland, with Chocolate Yule Logs, gingerbread men, frosted log houses, Santa figurines and tiny white snowmen. Some of the cakes looked too pretty to be eaten, but someone had to make the first cut. 😛

My favourite part was the waffle counter, which is made fresh to order. You can customise it with four different flavours of ice-cream and different toppings, from dried fruits like raisins to chocolate sprinkles, jam, chocolate sauce and more.

They have dried figs and marshmallows for you to dip into the chocolate fondue fountain. 🙂 It’s hard to find figs here because Malaysians don’t really like eating figs, but I love their chewy texture and the small, crunchy seeds inside.

Chocolate and candy lollipops.

My waffle was done, so I brought it back to the table and tucked in. I had mine with a scoop of soft chocolate ice-cream, fairy sprinkles and chocolate sauce. The waffles were warm and fluffy, with a slightly chewy texture like mochi.

At Essence Cafe, the Journey of Colours buffet on Christmas eve will be happening from 6.30pm to 10.30pm. The buffet is priced at Rm188nett per pax (food only), while children below 12 years old eat for free (only two children per table). Don’t worry if you missed out – the buffet is also available for brunch on Christmas day (12pm – 3pm), at Rm228nett per pax.